Thousands of free bikes are to be handed to refugees and asylum seekers by the Metropolitan Police as part of a charity scheme called The Bike Project.

Based in Hackney, The Bike Project aims to give some of London's most vulnerable people a leg up on the road to survival.

"A bike provides the first step into normal living for those who have faced persecution and atrocity," said Jem Stein, director of The Bike Project.

Until now, the project has relied on donations of bikes from the public, but today's announcement of backing by the Met, in tandem with Transport for London, takes things to a new level with a potential bonanza of thousands of bikes left unclaimed and ready to be handed over.

A first gift of 35 bikes has already been organised.

"The Bike Project is a great cause," said Chief Superintendent Sultan Taylor of the Metropolitan Police’s Safer Transport Command.

"There are thousands of bikes that through various circumstances are abandoned or unable to be returned to their owners. These bikes will really make a difference to a number of people in need."